TNS: With Grounded 2 just right around the corner, we've made a list of the biggest differences it has from its predecessor.
Obsidian admits Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 missed sales expectations for Xbox, while Grounded 2 succeeded.
Of course the live service game does well. Xbox guys aren't shaking the allegations of buying LS games and skipping single player games.
Can’t wait for Grounded 2 on PS5. They need bigger team on Grounded 2 though. They’re slow as molasses.
GamePass doesn't hurt developers I've been told countless times, so that couldn't have been the reason.
The Outerworlds 2 didn't even make it into the top 20 downloads of 2025 on Xbox so gamepass is not the only reason the game underperformed.
It was also released on Playstation which does not have gamepass and didn't make it in the top 20 list either.
I think what held it back was poor marketing and no hype. Many gamers were talking about the Oblivion remake when it came out and that game was a top download on all platforms. Marketing and hype can have a big impact on game sales.
You are spot on, but it's not just that. The game launched in pretty bad shape, at least on PC. I played for around 90 minutes, had a crash that wiped my progress, and decided to refund until they fix all the issues. When all you have to play is an hour or two every few days, losing anything more than 10 minutes of progress is brutal. This is why I can't currently do any Souls like games.
Then I bought Clair Obscur and have been playing that, as well as re-playing BG3. Outer Worlds 2 simply got lost among a lot of good (and stable) games.
I heard good things and will try it out again when I'm done with my recently purchased (on sale) Oblivion Remastered lol. Unless I get more games on sale that is, which is entirely possible.
Divine
Thanks for using logic in your post, as the guy above you took the opportunity to stum a tune no one is dancing to anymore.
Some games don't sell well, plain and simple. We can name 100s of games that missed the mark, and had nothing to do with Game Pass, Final Fantasy, Metroid Prime 4, and Control, to name a few. Avowed and Outer Worlds 2 were never big properties to begin with.
I think, your example proves the flaw of Game Pass.
The fact that it didn't make the top 20 shows that there is little inherent value to putting games on a service day one. People who are buying Game Pass are not simply playing games because they are on the service day 1 they selectively choose what to play.
This game could have released at retail, then been put on Game Pass after six months. Then they could have gotten sales from the people who were interested then put it on the service and not impacted sales as much and it likely would have had the exact same performance metrics on Game Pass.
And the basic thing here is that if so little people are playing the day 1 games then the value of day one games convincing people to sign up for subscriptions is clearly very low.
What you showed is exactly the premise that Outside_ofthe_Box is referencing.
salis844
Thank you for using logic and NOT waiting for someone else to do the talking for you like the person above you (thesoftware730).
Yes some games just don't sell, but putting it day one on gamepass doesn't seem like the best choice to me for the reasons you highlighted. You've said it perfectly so I won't divulge further.
Ah, yes, Microsofts narrative, because they don't want to admit truth, that it cannibalizes day one sales. Because cloud, live services, streaming platform, they are all buzzwords shareholders love to hear. We will have to see how bad Game Pass numbers were, since they aren't public. But by how Obsidian is releasing games that are perfect for promoting Game Pass, not worth full price, on quick release cycles for consistent output, which is more important than quality, so Game Pass users always have something new,... we will have to see how that goes by what fate awaits Obsidian. If that was success and Microsofts KPIs are good, then we will keep seeing more of that and eventual sequels fro those games. If prediction that they did badly even there is true... Obsidian is betting their continued existence on it. I guess in that case only thing I can say about it is shame.
I've been saying it for years that Game Pass is the best deal in media for gamers but deadly to game studios and not sustainable for Microsoft.
Avowed felt shallow to me, I know they said don't expect Elder Scrolls but considering how long it takes for Bethesda to make an ES game and how well Obsidian did with Fallout, you'd think they'd have created their own kind of Elder Scrolls game so people would get their fix from it. Either as a new IP or an Elder Scrolls spin off like how New Vegas was a Fallout spin off. If they did do Elder Scrolls then they could take us to Akavir which hasn't really been explored and features some new races, it's enough to keep them from crossing over with whatever Bethesda does in Tamriel.
It's a double edge sword because I completely respect the studio doing new IPs but with how well New Vegas did under time constraints, lack of resources and overall pressure, I'm just surprised they didn't have a second team to cycle between an Elder Scrolls and Fallout spin off.
Even The Outer Worlds disappointed me a little, it's a decent game but the loading screens felt far more noticeable because it's a space exploration game meaning travelling to different planets a lot for missions, at least if it was one map we have the choice to walk to our objective while exploring new things as we go along.
Creating games today is so much more difficult with the huge limits of modern hardware and the expecations of the public. New Vegas ran on 512 MB GDDR3 compared to 16GB of GDDR6 RAM on today's consoles.
Total of 3100% increase in capacity. Not even considering the CPU/GPU horsepower improvements. New games are so much more difficult and time consuming to develop. Look at GTA VI for example. Been in early development since 2014.
To be honest, my issue with the Outer Worlds games is the story falls off a lot after the first Act. And the gameplay doesn't evolve beyond Act 1 enough, either.
A vulnerability found in the Unity game engine has led to studio Obsidian Entertainment taking down five of its games, including the premium edition of its 2025 release Avowed.
It's stuff like this which make me think PC isn't worth it. There's no way PC gaming will overtake consoles not with massive issues like this
Idk how you're making this a console vs PC debate , this a Unity engine issue .
But since you brought it up Pc gaming is pretty big especially in the past 10 years , most of the younger generations would rather have a gaming PC then a console . Pc gaming argument about pricing is going the wayside with more gaming PC handhelds coming to the market introducing new ways to play with a reasonable price points .
What happens when the ps6 comes out and there's no real exclusives or incentive to upgrade as everything will be cross compatible with PS5 , it's basically an Iphone situation at this point. XB is basically dead so it's not consoles vs PC ... it's now PS vs PC and everything else .
My guess is that the rumored new PS handheld is what's gonna keep Sony relevant in the hardware business and might sell more then the PS6 marking the slow decline of the last holdout of traditional consoles and kick off the highend gaming handhelds into the mainstream
Simple answer when's the last time you've downloaded malware via a legitimise storefront and game on your PlayStation, switch or Xbox
This isn't the first instance of malware being spread via PC games just before this we had remote code executables running via legit GTA online server usage meaning total endpoint takeover.
As more and more games push root level drivers as part of their anti cheat this is only the start of it.
PC gaming is the wild west and you can't fix this due to the open nature of the platform
I was never criticising the platforms popularity it's growing but due to the open nature of the platform it's always going to have this issue you can't have it both ways. And rce or total endpoint takeover data leaks and spreading of ransomware isn't trivial it's a huge issue imagine logging into GTA to play a few hours and then some hacker gets your credit card and banking details and drains your bank account that's the reality of PC gaming nowadays
I just don't think that's a deterrent for anyone going into that PC space , it's probably that last thing considered when making a purchase. With rising costs with consoles and services associated with them , the barrier to entry is lessened when picking either/or . I wouldn't be surprised if ps6 is $1000, PS+ essential rises to $100 a yr and games become $80 standard by next gen. The open ended nature of PC is the draw that draws people in even if there's risks cause there's way more benefits . People that go pc usually don't go back to consoles and not that other way around
But it's not something anyone on a console has to worry about. The only risk of an attacker entering your network via your games console can only occur from jailbreaking your console.
I think most people who are entering the PC space for gaming also intend to use their PC for other things like work, banking, web browsing and media consumption. The constant push by publishers to have kernal level access should be something that people are pushing back on most major games are requesting this permission and barely telling the user. GTA v released it's enhanced version but you can't even play single player without accepting this.
If you're not aware kernel level drivers operate with the highest level of access possible for software making it extremely easy for a hacked server to take over a players pc with zero intervention on the users behalf. What's worse is that PC players are being told by influencers like Alex from DF to turn off their anti virus while playing.
I was discussing security implications and problems within the PC ecosystem but you keep pushing the cost conversation so lets talk about that.
Yes console costs are rising but let's not ignore the fact that PC parts are rising just as fast with a high end GPU costing double an entire console.
Also consoles will be guaranteed to last you 8 years plus while the same GPU you paid double for may only see half the generation out.
Case in point the GTX 7 series was the big card at the time of the ps4 launch but 5 years later that card was running games on low (if at all) while the ps4 is still being developed for a decade plus later try running reisdent evil village or god of war Ragnarök on a gtx 780 today
Why do i know this because I did go to PC from console i hated performance of the PS3 and 360 and the lack of access to stuff like crysis so i switched to PC I eventually left when the ps4 came out I have a job that requires a high end pc so i built another one around 2020 but i never stick around the PC ecosystem because the negatives absolutely do not outweigh the positives. When i play on PC i spend more time messing around settings then actually playing.
This is not a console vs pc issue as consoles are also impacted by this.
On a side note, I still see Pentiment on PSN and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Ultimate on both Xbox and PSN.
This vulnerability requires local files to be installed to take advantage of it. That's not possible on consoles unless you mod it and download circumspect files.
Consoles are not it you look into the cve item published by Microsoft it only impacts windows, Linux and iOS it doesn't impact PlayStation, Xbox and switch
This is why you're still seeing these games on console storefronts
30 year console gamer noob went full on pc 2-3 years ago haven't looked back. If I can figure it out anyone can. And this isn't a console vs pc issue it's a Unity engine issue
🤣🤣 if you’re a console only gamer, please don’t talk about PC - you are clueless
Nonsense. Unity is a perfect engine for a ton of games and it's not as cheap as people think once you hit certain markers. And statements like this when most people are tired of Unreal Engine.
Nothing is wrong with unity and game engine and software can be hit by a vulnerability this is more a PC specific problem not the first and not the last it's another reason why consoles are superior
@5tq3 I'd happily give up that freedom for security I've worked in the industry for to long to know how bad it can get.
If that freedom means i can run some mods which i barely have the time to spend configuring tweaking installing and or run some guys homebrew it's a whatever situation i wouldn't install software from a untrusted source because you're asking for trouble
PC games can't really play a lot more than consoles in this day and age what is the last major PC exclusive? it's not 2006 anymore devs are not making games like Crysis exclusive to the PC and everything is basically the same game running at different quality and resolution settings PC stopped being exciting when it lost the ability to play major exclusives locked to the pc ecosystems i'm talking stuff like Crysis, Quake1,2,3, Doom when it came out in 93 etc those days are so far behind us.
Grounded 2 has passed a major milestone, seeing more than 3 million players venture into Brookhollow Park in its first fortnight.
